Social Media Use and Political Participation: the Turkish Case

Abstract

The freedom of media is an essential component for democratic settings; however, in some contexts, citizens experience several barriers to enjoy this right in full. Replacing conventional media channels, social media is becoming an indispensable medium to express and discuss politics in such environments. Yet, there is little consensus in the literature about how social media relates to offline political participation, especially in settings where citizens do not experience media freedom in full. By using survey data that has been collected after the Turkish general election of 2018, this article aims to display the relationship between social media use and offline political participation. The analysis reveals offline political participation is related to sharing political views online and exposure to alternative political ideas.